It's Too Late
by Sami Ryou's Hikari
Summary: Ryou has always been alone; wishing for more. Now it's too late to let all his feelings show. One-shot: Songfic to Evermore's "It's Too Late".


Hi everyone! I have decided to make a one-shot. I don't have any idea why, I just wanted to make one…the question is: Poem, songfic or regular? SONGFIC! Awesome! Okay, the song will be It's Too Late by the band Evermore! And I know exactly who it's about! This will be easy! Well, it might be easy…anyway, warnings: Angst, blood and song lyrics in italic. This will be a Ryou-centric fic!

_Disclaimer: _I own many things, but YuGiOh and the song It's Too Late aren't in my vast collection of personal possessions. Unless DVD's and the Evermore CD count as ownership over the entire thing…

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_**Monday morning; hesitate, I can't get out of bed**_

_**I'd rather go back to the dreams, I'm living in my head. Yeah!**_

_**Tuesday evening; pack my bags, I'm heading out the door**_

_**I left a box of memories lying on the floor. Yeah!**_

Ryou was tossing a turning in his bed. He was unfocused and couldn't concentrate; he felt like an insignificant littlespeck of dust flying adrift in the wind, uncaring, unloved, unnoticed. There had been so many days he had been ignored…just likethat sameinsignificant littlespeck of dust…He had hoped that he had found friends in Yugi and his gang, but they were a close group; he was just getting in their way, he saw that. So many times Ryou felt like staying home and not going to school, and just sleeping all day. Because when he slept, he dreamt, and he had beautiful dreams. Dreams of friends, dreams of love, dreams of belonging and dreams of hope. They were better than being cast away like the unwantedloner he was.

Ryou knew what he had to do; there was only one way out of it. He decided to run away from home. He would be free; free of his Yami, his father that was never there…free from it all. He packed his bags and opened the drawer thathe kept locked at all times. Inside were countless letters he had written to his dead sister, Amane…inside also, was a picture of him and Amane playing together in the sandbox as little kids; Amane teaching him how to build sand castles…Lastly, a picture of his mother; she too had left him. The picture was all he had. Angrily, Ryou pulled out the drawer and threw it against the wall. It smashed to the floor. He looked regretfully at it. Then he grabbed the photo of Amane, and left with his cases.

_**Ride on, ride till early morning sun.**_

_**Ride on, like the dawning of the day.**_

**_It's too late, to let all your feelings show._**

_**Go on, till the night is swept away!**_

Ryou ran along the streets with his bags, panting and looking over his shoulder. He didn't stop running until he was twelve blocks away from his house; where he had grown up. He had done everything there; had his first birthday, learned to ride a bike, played with Amane, gotten the Millennium Ring, been given his first kiss…it was sad to leave it all behind. But Ryou could no longer stay where he was. With no idea of where he was going, he got up and kept running as far as he could until he couldn't run any more, and was out of breath. But there was only so far one person could go in one night; if someone found out he was missing then the police and other people would look for him, and then he would be caught for sure.

He sunk against a wall and cried. Maybe he should have let the others know how he was feeling. That he was alone, scared, confused and hurt. And he could have told them how ever since Amane…went away, he had felt a dark, gaping hole inside his very soul that could not be filled by anyone or anything. How he was scared of his Yami, Bakura; Bakura hit him and abused him constantly, and the pain often made Ryou sink into unconsciousness. How he wondered why he could be considered one of their friends, and yet they excluded him; keeping to their little group of four, Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan. There was no room for Ryou. Five is an odd number, so, unfortunately, Ryou would always be the odd one out.

_**I'm running from the city lights**_

_**I'm running from this empty life**_

_**I'm running out of time tonight…**_

_**I'm screaming out for "Help! HELP!"**_

Ryou got up again; trying to be strong. He could get through this, if he could only get out of Domino. Maybe he could go to a different country. England, Australia, America, China, maybe he could even go to Egypt to see Malik. After all, Malik HAD been nice to him, at least a little bit, and he was sure that with his darkness gone, Malik would be glad to see him. Ryou contemplated this idea inside his head, and then soonrealized it was hopeless. He sighed, leaning his head back and staring into the street light glaring above his face, lighting up the dark alleyway. Ryou hated to admit it but he was afraid of the dark. All his life he had imagined things were coming to get him from the blackness that came from night. He shivered.

He needed to escape the life he was living. There was no happiness in him anymore; just bitterness, loneliness and remorse. Ryou bit down on his lip, thinking about how no one would miss him at all, not even his own father. His father was never there anyway, so what difference would it make to him? Ryou didn't think his disappearance would really bother his father at all, because there was only one less person in the house. Father hardly ever returned to the house anyway, so coming home to an empty house wouldn't be that bad for the older man. Ryou nearly cried thinking about how his own father ignored him, and didn't see Bakura coming at him out of the shadows until the spirit was almostupon him. Ryou screamed.

_**Slow down, you're moving too fast!**_

_**Go home, you'll feel better for it!**_

_**Oh boy, you better stop dreaming!**_

_**It's all in your head!**_

_**Cause it's too late now…**_

Bakura leapt on Ryou, grabbing the boy by the hair and pulling Ryou to his feet. He growled fiercely at Ryou and shook the younger boy by the shoulders. "Where do you think you're going? Running away from home, are we? I don't think so!" Bakura shoved Ryou into the wall; the chocolate-eyed youth cringed as his head came in contact with the hard concrete on the alley wall. Bakura merely smirked and laughed maniacally at the boy's evident pain. Ryou tried to stand up but as he rested his weight on his feet he shook with instability. Bakura laughed even more at this. Pulling Ryou towards him, he whispered, "Go home, Ryou, go home or I shall beat you to the ground like the pathetic weakling you truly are!"

This was Ryou's chance to be strong; to prove he was worth something other than a punch bag or a pawn to be used when he was needed and then tossed aside like rubbish. He'd had enough! Which is why he spat on Bakura's face, and blindly thrusting his fist towards the spirit's face. Bakura caught Ryou's arm; twisting it around so that Ryou screamed in pain. The ancient thief then turned Ryou around so the boy had his back to the tomb robber, and was suddenly pushed to the ground. He felt Bakura's weight on him, and he was flipped over. Bakura leant over him, the spit still sliding down his cheek. The spit Ryou had spat at him. Ryou blinked, and slowly opened his eyes to find Bakura gone. Had he even been there?

_**Ride on, ride till early morning sun.**_

_**Ride on, like the dawning of the day.**_

_**It's too late, to let all your feelings show.**_

_**Go on, till the night is swept away!**_

Scared out of his wits, Ryou felt the back of his head. He drew his hand away to find it covered it blood, from a fresh wound. Bakura HAD been there, but now he was gone, and Ryou didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good in the fact that now he couldn't get beaten up any more, but still; it was bad that he was now left alone. For it was almost sunrise, and the streetlights were going out. And Ryou hated the dark, even when he knew there was nothing in it, he still feared that something could rush out and get him…like Bakura had done. He began to run again, as fast as he could with his cases weighing him down. He ran until he reached the old Domino beach, which had been abandoned for years.

As he reached the beach, he saw the rough trail that led up to the cliff face that overlooked the ocean. He leant on the signpost, resting for a while. The sign had four directions. It pointed to the beach, which was north. It pointed to the water-filled caves, which lay in the north-east direction. It pointed back to Domino city, which was south. And it pointed to the cliff face he had seen the trail to earlier, which was east. He looked at the post. Should he go to the beach and lay down on the sand, dreaming about what might have been? Or was the better choice to explore the caves where the water would fill every inch, and many had drowned? Going back to Domino was out of the question. So Ryou set off to the cliff face, his face icy.

_**Ride on, ride till early morning sun.**_

_**Ride on, like the dawning of the day.**_

_**It's too late, to let all your feelings show.**_

_**Go on, till the night is swept away!**_

Ryou climbed up the steep trail, looking straight ahead as though focused on something out of reach, yet where he was destined to be. Reaching the top of the cliff, he stood upon the edge; resting his cases on the ground. He looked out at the ocean. Ryou was tired of life. His Yami would always find him, and he would never be important no matter where he went. He stood on the very edge of the cliff, and looked down. Below him were sharp rocks, and spraying ocean waves that beat against the rocks. Life had forsaken him, so now he would forsake life. Closing his eyes, he leaned forward, to join his memories, and wipe away his pain. Blood sprayed against the rocks as Ryou was finally free from it all…

The news of Ryou's death spread like fire. How he had cast himself upon the deadly rocks; ending it all. Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan took it harshly, and for weeks afterwards they were sombre and somewhat silent. There were numerous bouquets lined on the cliff where Ryou had leapt to both death and freedom. His father came back from his studies in Egypt as an archaeologist. He'd lost the last family he had, and beat himself up about how he'd never been there for Ryou. But now it was too late; Ryou was gone, and no one could change that. Not one of the eighteen people who had showed up, bearing memories, flowers, and words of support for each other, at Ryou's funeral. They all knew that it was too late to save him.

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Oh my Ra, that was so sad…And it only took me about...an hour and a half? Oh man, I could have written three poems and had them posted in that time! Oh well. If you want to review, you can; It would be much appreciated. I would like to hear your thoughts on this one-shot. Was it good, bad, happy, sad, did it make you cry, or laugh, or even make you angry? Please review; flamers will be banished to the Shadow Realm to be tortured by Yami Marik and his minions.

Love Sami, Ryou's Hikari.


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